kk trip - day 1

Day 1 - Tuesday, 26th June 2007

I woke up early at 5am because I wasn't really done with my packing. I was too distracted the night before and before I could finish packing, I was feeling tired and sleepy. So I decided to go to bed first and put my alarm to 5am so that I could continue packing later.

Woke up.. and immediately went to shower. If not, I might get carried away by packing and would not have enough time to shower. Got out of the shower at 5.40am. And the plan was to leave the house by 6am. Hahahaha!! Rushed to pack everything. Thank goodness for my things-to-pack lists! I always always always make a list when I am about to travel someplace so that I will never forget to pack things.. also makes it easier to know what I've packed before going off to someplace so that I won't leave anything behind when I leave. =)

Managed to pack the leftovers in just ten minutes. Then my family (mom/dad/Andy) got into the car and we drove to Marwina's house to pick her up. Then we went to Wani's place to pick her up. Got to the airport with no problems. Checked in our bags. See how much our bags weighed.

Wiena --> 10kgs
Me --> 10kgs
Wani --> about 8kgs ONLY!

Sigh. I guess it's cos Wani is a small person. Her clothes will be smaller than the rest of us. So her bag should be lighter. And I was so afraid of overpacking!! Wow. Luckily I took out more clothes that morning. Or else my bag would've weighed even more than 10 kilos. Hahaha!

It's a bad habit of mine to be prepared for anything!! So most of the time, I would overpack and end up not using a lot of the stuff I put in. Gah.

We had our little breakfast at one of the cafes they had in the airport. I only had a hot dog bun and a hot milo. Overpriced food. Urgh! Then we headed upstairs to the departure lounge.

I made that up.. or did I?

We didn't have to wait long before it was time to board the plane. So we all dutifully queued up. Sigh. AirAsia.. so degrading. Btw, there was this group of guys we recognized cos they also go to Curtin. They were also going to KK for a holiday!

Woooo.... a lot of Curtains were going to KK too. A couple of my friends were there already as well as others who have yet to go. And more according to my brother. Argh! You think you want to escape these people by going to KK but who knew they all had the same idea in their minds. Hahaha.

Anyways, pity those guys! As soon as they announced that they would be boarding our flight, they rushed to try get to the front of the line. They wanted to get good seats on the plane. But the attendants soon found out that they did not even get their boarding passes checked at the immigration counter so the poor things had to go and get them checked before rejoining the queue at the end of the line. Haha!

We arrived in Kota Kinabalu in no time. The flight took only 30 minutes. It felt really funny reaching our destination so soon. It's almost like simply driving from one end of Miri to the other. I'm exaggerating. But I'm pretty sure that driving from one end of Miri to the other would still take less than an hour.

Our friend whom we would be staying with, Hazman, came to pick us up in his Nissan Frontier. Good thing too. Cos before we boarded the plane, we were still a bit unsure about who would be picking us up from the airport or if Hazman would even be able to pick us up.

Our luggage... braving the hot morning sun in the back of the truck.

We headed straight back to his apartment which was located at Bukit Padang. Apparently, located right next to the apartment is a looney bin and closeby was the Sabah Golf and Country Club. The place wasn't so bad although I was more expecting to be staying in a house instead of an apartment. I was also expecting for his family to be around but it turns out that they're all not around so we wouldn't have to deal with the parentals nor the sibling, which is always a good thing!

But it's not like they didn't know that he would be staying alone with three other girls. His parents are so cool that way. Although I have no idea as to how his girlfriend felt about the idea. I know I would've hated it if my boyfriend was to do something like that to me.

Whilst we were there, we roamed and checked out the new crib we would be staying in for the next few days, picked out beds and bedrooms we would like to stay in, and freshened up before going out again for brunch.

I still look like a kid.

I don't know where we went for our first meal but I know it was definitely halal. I wasn't sure whether I could order stuff the same way I would in Miri.. like.. I didn't know if I could order milo peng. You know, cause I wasn't sure if they would understand the slangs or terms we used back in Miri so I ordered milo ais. Haha! Strange!!

But I found out that you can order milo peng. Yes, knock yourselves out.

When I looked at the sign where they had all the different food they served.. it was so odd cos I didn't know any of the foods although when I looked at the food on the other patron's tables, it looked like stuff you could find back home.

So I just shyly said, "Mee kering..?" to which the lady who was taking my order asked me something else back as to confirm if that was what I meant.. to which I simply nodded although I didn't catch what she said. Then she asked what I would like in the soup. Soup??? We never get soup back in Miri... but then again... I wasn't sure if what she thought I ordered was what I wanted. So I just choose fish cakes out of the several options that she gave me.

Total gamble!!

... of which I lost.

Why though? The noodles were a bit too dry. The fish cakes were gross to me. The soup was just okay. And the milo was too sweet. Some people are just so hard to please.

Btw, this is Hazman. Haha. Just trying to keep it child safe. :P

After our brunch, Hazman took us to go kai kai (a car ride) or sightseeing. Although he really shouldn't have! Cos he hasn't even slept yet. He and his friends were out all night the night before cos they went fishing. The poor thing must've been incredibly tired yet he brought us all out around town... showed us where what was.. what area this place was.. what this building is.. where he used to go to school.. how sweet, yea?

One of the places he brought us to was to Signal Hill. The roads up Signal Hill was incredibly windy. In fact, I don't even recall a single time or a particular bit during the journey up nor down that was a straight road. You can check out the video I recorded during our drive up the hill. No thanks to Hazman for turning Wani and I into clothes in a dryer - tumbling about the place due to his driving.

Oh gawd I'm so lame.


Oh gawd I'm so geeky.


Oh gawd I'm in KK!!!

Then we went back to Hazman's place where Hazman slept for the rest of the afternoon. Wani slept too. Wiena didn't sleep at all. She stayed up watching TV. I fell asleep watching TV with her but only for 15 minutes. I fail at napping.

Later in the evening, everyone (which means only Wani and Hazman) eventually managed to get up. And we all got ready to go out for dinner. We had planned to go out for dinner with Halim (another guy who was supposed to have come up to KK together with us but ended up going up earlier) as well as more of Hazman's friends.

Everyone hanging out in the living room, watching TV.


Was waiting for the rest of them to get ready to go out for dinner.

Oh. Those wordings? Hahaha! I didn't know what to write and the thought of all those cheap wrapping papers/pencil cases/exercise books with such random poems with bad english on them crossed my mind. I know. So random!!

We were supposed to meet up with the rest of them at 7.30pm. We arrived just in time. We had gone to Tanjung Aru where there was a variety of food to be found. For there was a seafood restaurant, a bar/bistro, as well as a food court. Then we found out that the rest of them were nowhere to be found. Btw, Wani didn't join us for dinner this night cos she decided to have dinner out with her friend. So Wiena, Hazman, and I waited for the others to come.. There was a tattoo parlour upstairs so we went there to check it out and to kill time.

Wiena asked me to pose cos she wanted to send her friend a MMS of someone outside a tattoo parlour? Sigh. Me as a prop.

The picture of a tattoo in the thought bubble.. Hmmm... No. I don't actually want that tattoo. I would like a prettier one. Although I do love star tattoos. Hee.

Wiena and Hazman.

Well, the rest of the people we were supposed to meet up with finally showed up... an hour later! Bad bad bad first impression, guys. Tsk. Luckily for them, I'm such a kind and forgiving person!

Oh yes, we spotted this little crab trying to run away from the restaurant. There was a seafood restaurant where we were. Hahaha. It was so cute. Go, little crabman, go!

But we didn't go to the seafood restaurant. Instead, we went to this side which was like a bar/bistro. Wasn't sure what to order so I decided to play it safe and order the Fish and Chips which was labeled to be a "chef's recommendation" in the menu.

We waited awhile and not before long, our food arrived. It was so funny! It turned out that everyone else at the table had ordered the exact same thing!! That had never happened around me before. And we only realized when our food were served! Everyone at the table had ordered fish and chips. Hahahaha.

Not only that.. but it turned out that everyone had ordered the same drinks as well! Everyone had coca cola. Yeah, like totally wtf man. Except that one guy ordered a cola light but that's close enough!

Unfortunately for everyone...

... the food didn't turn out so great.

The fish they used wasn't fresh but at least coca cola is dependable. And thankfully, no one got sick from eating it.

Wiena's dad just happened to be in KK that night. It was unexpected because her dad couldn't get a flight back to Miri from Labuan so the airline offered her dad to stay in KK for a night before flying back to Miri the next morning. Since he was there, Wiena wanted to be able to stay with him for the night. So right after we were done with dinner, Hazman, Wiena and I, drove back to Hazman's place to grab Wiena's luggage and then sent her to Sutera Harbour Resort, where her dad would be staying. Lucky girl.

We had made plans with the rest of them to meet up at Signal Hill. So, Hazman and I (the only two left) drove up. Along the way, we ran into (not literally) Wani and her friend who was also headed up Signal Hill cos Wani had to meet up with us or else she wouldn't have any way to get back into the apartment later.

The view.


Everyone with the exception of Wani, who was busy chit chatting on the phone, and Halim, who helped take this picture.

I was rather shy and hesitant to join them because it was my first time meeting most of them that night. One of the guys there, Awang, I knew from playing Ragnarok Online. Hahaha! Back in form 5, Wani, Halim, Hazman, Awang, and I, used to party together in RO. It was really funny. Cos we were the lousiest party in RO, ever. There were also other people in our party - Daniel, Kalus, Aaron, Faeez but there weren't with us in KK. Everyone who was in our party were all from Miri. All except Awang who was from KK. He was only in our party cos he was Hazman's friend. Back when Hazman used to school in KK before moving back to Miri.

Ah. Our many misadventures in RO. Going here and there... having problems teleporting because our mage acolyte was a bit of a ditz. And then having half the party left behind after teleporting. And how everyone died together in a cave after being attacked by monsters that were too high level for us puny newbies. And then not having anyone to help revive us cos apparently, our mage acolyte ran away whilst the rest of us were fighting the monsters. Our mage. acolyte. Tsk tsk. Hahaha.

So! It was our first time meeting with Awang whom we've known for 4 years but never met face to face. Hahaha. So shy lah. Anyways, after everyone was done chit chatting and drinking - Jim Beam and Coke. We decided to make a move to Colour Ball to play pool.

I was "apparently" bullying Halim so much that he "cried".


Shannon, Halim & Mel, Awang.

It's been awhile since I last played pool so yes, I sucked. At first, I played Halim. I won. Haha. But then again, it was his first time playing pool so he was a bit clumsy about it. But it's all good cos I haven't played in years so I was as rusty as a nail left out in the rain for a month.

Me in action. I look really strange trying to play pool Something about my arm.

After that, Sanjit came over to play me. We played about two or three rounds together and I won every single time. Although.. I do believe that someone let me win. Cos I've watched him playing the other guys before and he was really good at it. But somehow when he played me, I won? Pfft. Puh-lease. But it was so sweet of him. Some more after we were done playing, he paid on my behalf. I still feel bad about it. Cos I barely knew him and he was paying for me.

Sanjit taking a shot while Mel looks on.

Halim handed Wani a pool cue. And we found out that Wani was almost shorter than a pool cue!! Hahaha. So funny. Look!

Soon, everyone was hungry again.. you know, boy being boys. The garbage cans that you can always depend on to finish your food for you. Hehehe. So we left Colour Ball, and went to a nearby restaurant. It was maybe 2 or 3am at the time. All the boys ate. I refrained. I wasn't hungry anyway.

We got back home at 3am or 4am that night.

And it was only our first day in KK.

O.O

PS. It was also the hottest day of all five days we spent in KK.